It was 1990 when Amy Wend first had the urge to create a unique facility in the hills above Napa Valley. She envisioned cultivating what would now be considered a sustainable farm environment. Along with minimal staff, she started a 6-acre organic garden. Shortly thereafter, when the opportunity arose, she hired a herd master and began raising goats to make the most natural farmstead cheese available. Amy had a great upbringing, being born and raised in an agricultural environment in the Central Valley of California.

Upon leaving home in the early 70s for the “city”, she became employed by a San Francisco-based business as a special administrative assistant to the chairman of an international heavy equipment distributor. This allowed her to meet Daryl & Mary McCosker while Daryl consulted with that organization. Amy received an appreciation of the effort entailed in the sales and marketing of products in different countries around the globe. She realized that worldwide, people appreciated the efforts of someone devoted to creating truly good products and she carried that learning experience to her 6-acre farm. Her first success was selling at local farmer’s markets, both her cheese and organic produce.

Fast forward to the present period, Skyhill products are now distributed nationwide. Skyhill has expanded its offerings making it available in personal servings and bulk to our loyal customer base in many different flavors. Our main farm is now located just southeast of famous Napa Valley in a modern facility created by a local family that shared the same passion with Amy to create and distribute the very best quality products. Generations of McCosker’s have been in the Bay Area since the late 1800s, involved in construction, development, property management, and of course, agriculture, and take pride in only participating in top-quality endeavors.

The dairy and cheese plant has a 600-head goat population and other owned properties nearby that produce oat, rye, and alfalfa hay to ensure the quality of feed. Our goats enjoy the California climate, allowing grazing throughout the year, but allowing all the goats to be tucked safely away in our lodging barn at night. We have recently participated in wind farm generation with three of several hundred windmills in the area and are home to two substations nestled in the surrounding hills transferring power to the “grid” provided by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. We are now surrounding our campus with natural produce gardens, being able to utilize the best quality products of the facility as natural fertilizers.

In creating the perfect team, Skyhill several years ago was very fortunate to bring Dave and Josie Grace on board as the operations and production lead of all products. Again, with roots in the neighboring central valley of California, Dave has vast experience having worked for Hilmar Cheese Co., one of the very largest cheese manufacturers in the United States, and with Jackson Mitchell, producer of Meyenberg Goat Products, also distributed nationally. Dave has had the opportunity now to focus on very specific cheeses and other natural-related products in the lab and on the production floor, not concerned about quantity, but continually attempting to improve the healthful benefits and quality of Skyhill products.

When Amy acquired her first few goats, she named her best producer, Emily. In memory now but since 1990, Emily has been featured on the Skyhill label and is on every Skyhill goat product. With all of our associated companies, marketing partners, consultants, and distributors, we will strive to get to you our products in their limited production, as it is all about having happy California goats and bees and building our organization around them. Subsequently our first queen bee Ari, is featured on the honey labels.